Detecting cancer typically requires a series of complicated medical tests, including blood and tissue tests, wherein the number and type of tests are dependent on the type of cancer suspected. However, indications of skin cancer, specifically melanoma, can be detected visually. Such indications include lesions which are larger than a certain size, asymmetrical in shape, have irregular borders and/or consist of multi-colored tissue. In the past, there was no simple, single device to aid a physician in the visual recognition of skin cancer. Thus, to visibly recognize skin cancer and thereby to determine whether further tests were needed, a physician had to view the lesion carefully with a hand-held magnifying glass to determine whether it included irregular borders or multi-colored tissue and then had to measure the diameter and symmetrical properties of the lesion with a separate instrument having some sort of scale or ruler contained thereon. This was typically a very clumsy procedure to perform and, depending on the type of scale used, could be inaccurate. Likewise, for a doctor who was not experienced in detecting indications of melanoma or, for a lay person who was uninformed on the subject, there was no single device having means for measuring and detecting skin disease indications to determine whether diagnosis by an experienced physician was required.
Prior art devices including magnifying glasses are known. For example, a magnifying device having an attached scale for accurately measuring distances is shown in Amstutz, U.S. Pat. No. 1,145,959. Here, a magnifying glass is located above a surface containing a scale such that an object lying on the surface is magnified along with the scale to enable accurate magnified measurements. Other known magnifying devices suitable specifically for magnifying printed material include Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,334 and Buszek, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,311. None of these devices, however, includes a magnifying glass and means specifically adapted for the accurate and efficient measurement and detection of skin disease indications.